library(sf)
library(mapview)
library(dplyr)
library(RColorBrewer)Mapping underserved communities
The Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP) is developing a methodology as part of its new Equity Strategy to identify historically underserved (i.e., disadvantaged) communities across the Tampa Bay watershed to support the goals of the White House’s Justice40 Initiative (EO 14008) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Equity Action Plan (EO 13985). The purpose of this initiative is to ensure TBEP delivers equitable and fair access to the benefits from environmental programs for all communities.
Below, we have provided instructions for replicating our methodology for mapping underserved communities in Tampa Bay. To view instructions for downloading the necessary source data from EJScreen, see “Getting EJScreen data”.
While we encourage other National Estuary Programs to adopt our methodology in their own Equity Strategies, we recognize that different approaches may be necessary in different areas. Along with our descriptions of the methodology, we also briefly highlight the rationale behind our decisions, which may or may not be relevant or appropriate for other NEPs. If you have questions or other feedback regarding the methodology, contact Dr. Blake Simmons at bsimmons@tbep.org.
The method described below is presented in R coding language, but users who prefer working with GIS software (e.g., ArcGIS or QGIS) should also be able to reproduce the maps by following along in the descriptions of each step.
Load the required R packages (install first as needed).
Load and view the data.
load(file = 'data/dattb.RData')
#| out-width: "100%"
mapview(dattb)